Cocculus Indicus
When undertaking a long air flight, especially one crossing multiple time zones never forget to take along some Cocculus 30. This remedy possesses several memorable, keynote prescribing symptoms: 1) Ailments from nightwatching (meaning, loss of sleep but especially due to the stress of caring for or worrying about a sick relative or acquaintance); 2) ailments from motion, such as carsickness; a sense of time passing too quickly. Insofar as flying often denotes worry, stress, distortion of time and sleep patterns, not to mention an excess of motion it is easy to see why Cocculus suggests itself as a prime remedy for jet lag. Having recently undergone 17 hour flights from Boston to South Africa and back I can personally attest to this remedy’s usefulness. My jet lag was absolutely minimal. My recommendation is that one take a dose before flight, and also every few hours during the flight.
Other symptoms suggesting the appropriateness of prescribing this remedy include: profound sadness, a feeling of being capricious and stupid, excessive sensitivity, introspection, and distractibility. In more physical terms there is often a sense that one’s head is swimming, a readiness to nausea, weakness, prostration, tendencies to spasms. One of the most unusual indicating signs (not always present) is a sense of one’s being hollow.